Random Observations: 2001 (Part 1)

Before I do anything less than serious with this one, here are some observations because I just have so much to say about this one. I haven't done bullet points on one of these yet so here ... we ... go!

• If you were to ever bet a friend if they could stay awake through a movie, this is the one you put your money on. Most people fall asleep right when the bone turns into a spaceship, but there are so many brilliant moments of silence in this, it’s nearly impossible to stay awake throughout.
• This is the first quality sci-movie. You know how I know War of the Worlds and The Day the Earth Stood Still aren't good? Because they were remade into movies with Tom Cruise and Keanu Reeves and done better.
• Monkeys from 2001 vs. Monkeys from Wizard of Oz? Sorry, can't let that go.
• What I need to know is that if this movie was done this way to specifically entice the new generation of hallucinogen users. There have been times in my day when going to a movie stoned was quite the thing to do, and this has got to be the first of it’s kind.
• 25:40 … that’s how far this movie goes before someone talks. This is longer than watching Daniel Plainview mine silver in There Will Be Blood
• There's another long gap around the 34 minute mark. I see why Kubrick gets away with it though. For its time, this must have been so mesmerizing that just putting these images meshed with some classical music was good enough. I mean, girl walking upside down!!! Pods landing on the moon!!!
• HAL is so condescending. Love him.
• Star Wars doesn’t happen without this move. Lucas borrowed so much.
• Where does this guy get off playing HAL at chess? If someone roasted me at chess and said, “Thank you for a very enjoyable game” I wouldn’t trust that person. I can’t believe these “genius” astronauts don’t see it coming.
• The “fix the satellite” scene is bonkers. Simply bonkers. About 10 minutes of dude fixing satellite and counting. Sure you get space walking as a first … but damn. DAMN!!! They’re still fixing it.
• Then every time they get in these pods … silent city.
• “Dave, this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye." Great line. I'm going to say this to everyone who disagrees with me from here on in.
• Lastly, and in my nerdlingerness this is something I've always wanted to do, I've come up with a final tally of how much "Silence" is in this movie, and by that I mean long gaps with no dialogue. The movie is 2 hours and 20 minutes song, and by my fairly accurate estimate, the "Silent" scenes take up 93 minutes of the movie, meaning only 47 minutes of the movie contain dialogue. Yowzer. That's nearly 70 percent of the movie.